This invention relates to a lubricant storage assembly and is concerned more specifically with a device for securing a lubricant container to a lubricant delivery unit, particularly for use in construction machines such as hydraulically operated hammers and breaker jaws. The device includes a container-receiving socket which is secured to the machine and which has a holding portion which guides and receives a supported portion (head portion) of the lubricant container upon its introduction into the socket.
Lubricating systems formed of a lubricant delivery unit and a lubricant container primarily serve the purpose to grease highly stressed supporting or bearing locations of hydraulically operated hammers or breaker jaws. The lubricating greases may have a very high solid lubricant content such as cutter paste. The lubricant delivery unit, which in the simplest case has a delivery piston axially movable in a delivery chamber, may be of arbitrary design, as long as it is adapted to receive the lubricant stored in the lubricant container and to advance it in the direction of the machine area to be lubricated.
A securing device of the above outlined type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,761, according to which the lubricant delivery unit is coupled with the cutter (chisel) guide of a hydraulically operated percussion mechanism and has a container-receiving socket. The lubricant container is supported by the socket in a releasable manner by a holding portion provided with an inner thread.
Particularly when using lubricant containers which are made of a soft and relatively low-resistance material such as a plastic, risks are significant that the lubricant container, in response to abrupt motions of the lubricant delivery unit jams in the socket and/or is damaged by an impermissibly large force applied during its insertion into the socket. Consideration has to be given to the circumstance that the lubricant delivery unit, because of the viscosity of the lubricant, is arranged close to the machine (for example, on the hydraulically operated percussion mechanism itself) and is thus exposed to forces, such as shocks and vibrations derived from the operation of the machine.